Back in London after returning from Uruguay via a solo training camp in Spain, Lucas Torreira now has 11 days to find a new club.
Deemed surplus to requirements at the Emirates, the 25-year-old could well be heading back to Italy, where he previously made his name with Pescara and Sampdoria.
The 25-year-old has already been linked with Lazio this summer and there are now rumours that AS Roma, who spent months flirting with Granit Xhaka without making us an indecent proposal, are in the running.
Roma have been on something of a spending spree since Jose Mourinho took over in July with the likes of Tammy Abraham, Eldor Shomurodov, Marias Vina, Rui Patricio, Roger Ibanez and Bryan Reynolds all recruited.
Despite all that, the Giallorossi still want to strengthen the midfield and little Lucas is on the shortlist.
In an ideal world, Arsenal would cut their losses on Torreira, who arrived for £25 million in 2018, by securing a permanent deal but it sounds like we might be open to sending him out on another loan even though his contract ends in 2023.
Torreira spent 2020/21 with Atletico Madrid with whom he secured a La Liga medal off the back of 502 minutes of football.
Arsenal should announce deals for Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale in the next 24 hours and will then turn attention to offloading a number of fringe and wantaway players, including Sead Kolasinac, Reiss Nelson, Hector Bellerin, Willian and Eddie Nketiah.
Really hard to understand how it went wrong for him, seemed like the perfect deal for us in his first year. Emery playing him in the 10 position maybe?
It just looks like he doesn’t want to be at Arsenal, in London or even in England. A bit like Gabriel Paulista at the time.
Shame, because he is a very decent player indeed.
Maybe, but no one is in for him, not even on loan, that’s weird (to say the least).
Always thought he would fetch us at least some 15m
It’s a bit like Aouar’s situation. Good players but clubs will be looking at how the players and their agents conducted themselves in the last summer window. Lucas had two concrete offers from two Serie A clubs but rejected them to go to Atletico at the last minute. Aouar had a bunch of clubs chasing his signature. We made an approach for him but his representatives didn’t seem to prioritise us or take us seriously. Now that both players have had a difficult year on/off the pitch and seem more desperate for a move clubs will be thinking twice about… Read more »
I don’t think clubs are that petty when recruiting. Him having not played much in the last two years, which may have dented his readiness 4 competitive action and confidence is more plausible
It’s just my opinion but I think it plays a role. Consider how many bids the club has reportedly outrighted rejected or refused to negotiate with buying clubs over: Mustafi (loan fee + obligation to buy to Inter) Torreira (loan fee + obligation to buy to AC Milan) AMN (straight transfer to Wolves) Bellerin (straight transfer to PSG) Lacazette (straight transfer to Roma) Mhkitaryan (straight transfer to Roma) Then there is the reputation our wantaway players have gathered for not being willing to lower their wage demands to make a move easier. It starts to add up as to why… Read more »
I read the other day he was happy to come back but Arteta wants to move him on and he has no future here. Whatever the truth is if he’s contracted to 2023 and is loaned out surely he won’t be silly enough to sign a contract extension if offered one. We seem to be doing a bit of that of late.
I will take this guy over Xhaka all day. Much more mobile and quick. I do fancy him and Partey as a partnership. Never had a chance under Arteta.
He is not a better distributor or passer than Xhaka, also Xhaka is Swiss captain a natural leader, I would have him anyday ahead of Lucas.
Arteta didn’t seem to fancy him from the start. With the midfield options we have you would think he’s worth keeping around, rather than just giving up away.
Small, slow, hated England, always bullied off the ball, giving it large about how he liked it better in Italy. Another Mislintat waste of space, just get rid for whatever we can get.
He was a square peg in arteta’s yet-to-be-seen round hole of a strategy
Torreira has a contract thru to 2023?!! What the actual fuck…just another example
Of how badly managed our club has been under the fkn Kroenkes. I hope no one turns up for the Chelsea game. Don’t buy the shirt. Force them out. NOW.
So sad to see him go. Unai really made him lose his confidence and it seems like he hasn’t settled in UK.
What do we expect? 10 million pounds?
I don’t think it was anyone’s fault. I think it just didn’t work. Truth be told he isn’t good enough to play for Arsenal. Being tenacious isn’t enough alone. He gave us some happy memories and was maybe just what we needed for that one season.
I would love £10m but I feel like his stock is so unbelievably low. He literally isn’t even at the club anymore. I’d take anything over £5m just to get him moved on. He hasn’t really played since Arteta took over so we aren’t going to notice he’s even gone.
How is he not good enough for Arsenal but the dross midfield we had for the last 2 seasons is? He’s a full fledge Uruguayan international who had a good start to the PL and seemed to have the right qualities to suit our midfield. Like our recent big purchases have been, since Mustafi, Xhaka, Pepe etc, they’ve all become worse players since joining our club. The blame can’t always lie with the players, it’s to do with our culture & coaching.
If Torreira goes to Lazio or Roma or wherever and absolutely tears it up then I’ll issue a full and frank apology.
But I’ve got a sneaky feeling that when we do shift him, it’ll probably be the last we ever hear of him.
I hope not. He seems like a good guy and he had some excellent games for us. But so did Iwobi.
Unfortunately, that’s not how it works, mate. Once you kill a footballer’s confidence, more often than not, it isn’t revived by a club change. There have been countless such examples across football clubs all over the world.
That can not be used as proof to absolve management from their responsibility or the lack of it. Torrera was a beast, we killed him. That can happen and is fine because no coach is perfect. Even Wenger and Ferguson made mistakes. But we seem to be doing that a lot these days, now that’s a worry.
I respectfully reject this hypothesis.
I don’t believe bad coaching can indefinitely “kill” a player.
Hey it was worth it for goal against Spurs alone
Indeed. And that awesome celebration afterwards.
Not a bad way to be remembered by Arsenal fans.
You’re usually spot on but I’m gonna have to disagree with that one J4H. I mean Elneny’s strongest attribute is literally tenacity, which seemed to be enough to play as many games as he did last season. Xhaka’s best attributes are supposed to be his passing range and leadership which is enough for him to be a lynchpin in the side. These two midfielders don’t offer much beside the aforementioned qualities and recycling possession. Obviously the lad has mentally checked out so he’s not much use in the squad but under normal circumstances he would offer just as much as… Read more »
I’ll happily be proven wrong. And I totally respect your opinion. But I doubt we’ll hear too much from him once he’s off the books.
He belongs at a middling Italian club and we need to find a club like that for him.
Agreed, he definitely needs a change of environment.
Isn’t it weird that emery has not considered offering players he seemed 2 favor at arsenal a second lease of life such as torreira and guendouzi. They wouldn’t cost much n they would go 2 battle 4 him. Guendouzi even issued a come for me plea after villareal’s exploits at the el
Not being good enough for Arsenal never stopped Mustafi – or Xhaka.
Hopefully we can get £10m plus some add ons and then maybe go for Zakaria
We need a Auoar- type midfielder more than a Zakaria type mf. Watch Leicester and see how much having a player like Tielemans helps them. We have missed that kinda midfielder for a long time now
I love Aouar, although he may be a bit lightweight as a number 8? Also the rumoured attitude problem….could be Guendouzi all over again. Tielemans is a lot stronger on the ball than Aouar. Know what you mean though, anyone other than Elneny in CM
I think we’re lacking players with an attitude. Brentfords second goal last week, everyone just sort of accepted it no complaints. Just sort of oh well, we badly need a couple of mongrels, put a bit of pressure on the ref, or each other maybe we wouldn’t be so easy to play against.
I couldn’t agree more.
If the Euros and first week of fixtures are anything to go by, referees are letting more things slide.
We’re going to need to stand up for ourselves.
In a perfect world, ESR would be that dynamic 8 we’ve been missing. He played that role at Huddersfield, progressing the ball from deep and avoiding tackles.
But the EPL is a step-up from the Championship and his (current) lack of positional discipline would see his midfield partner punished.
I personally think besides Aouar, Nkunku and Carlos Soler are very suited to that role.
I’m starting to have a bad feeling about Kolasinac staying this season. Please, please, let it not be true.
On a side note, I feel like at least 2 Italian clubs have constantly been linked with Lucas for more than a year, so I don’t expect anything anymore on this front.
I think Mourinho just likes winding us up…..
My thoughts exactly. Demba Ba, Nuri Sahin, toying around with Xhaka then deciding to offer an unreasonable fee, I don’t buy anything to do with Mourinho when it comes to us finding a solution
Let’s be very clear – Mourinho can never be a solution for any problem ever. He’s like a rash in your privates, whichever way you look at it, it’s bad!
if they couldn’t pay what we wanted for xhaka why would we entertain them further?
It was a lie. Roma wanted Abraham more.
Well they may be the only bidders for Torreira.
If they actually bid, then its all fine. But knowing them, I doubt it comes to that.
I hope this works out for him. He seemed so promising on arrival; I am still not sure what went wrong – beyond his personal travails. A sad situation all around.
Remember when we bought him at the time it was widely thought no matter what, he’d at least retain his value. Serves as a reminder that the value of young, promising players can also go down.
I wilk take this guy over Xhaka all day. Much more mobile and quick. I do fancy him and Partey as a partnership. Never had a chance under Arteta.
I think it’s easy to underestimate how difficult it can be to move to a new country with a new language and new customs. They may be skilled footballers but they are still young. Hopefully they are made welcome, can make friends and begin to feel at home. However, it’s not always going to work out – just look at Paul Gascoigne at Lazio. If you’re feeling homesick and isolated you’re never going to produce your best football. With Lucas, I just wish him all the best for the future.
For the love of God stop trying to do deals with Mourinho!
I’d b sorry to see Nelson go.
As for where Torreira ends up…. I could never get my head around the whole thing.
I like this player, really hope he finds a spot that fits him better and gets back to what he’s good at.
I seriously thought he was the best thing since sliced bread in the first few months, I guess he wasn’t quite as good as he looked back then but there’s definite talent there if he plays in the right system.
Fuck R*ma. They didn’t take Xhaka, I will never forgive them for this. The Sp*rs of the Serie A.
129m spent so far. Back up full back who can play on the left or right, back up keeper, young promising #6, starting right side CB, and starting #10. All key areas we knew needed targeting at the start of the window. All the new boys between the ages of 21 and 23. All with good chances of increasing in value over the course of their contracts with us. And we are likely not done yet…maybe two more in by the end of the month. I have to admit that I do see a strategic plan at work. Now let’s… Read more »
Interesting to see how this one plays out now that we have all fully established Roma are full of s***